Summary of H.R. 3199: USA PATRIOT Act and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act
On Thursday, July 21, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 3199 by a vote of 257 to 171. This page summarizes the base bill and key amendments that passed. NOTE that the Senate passed a different bill, S. 1389. Next, a conference committee must prepare a compromise bill for both the House and the Senate to vote on before the bill will become law.
The bill passed by the House eliminates the 16 sunsets in the USA PATRIOT Act enacted on October 26, 2001, and puts new 10-year sunsets on Section 206 (Roving Surveillance Authority Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978) and Section 215 (Access to Records and Other Items Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act).
Selected changes in the base bill
Section 206: Roving Surveillance Authority Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 has a new requirement that a user of this authority inform a judge within 15 days each time the roving surveillance is "directed at a new facility or place," the justification for the surveillances, and the number of surveillances.
Section 212: Emergency Disclosure of Electronic Communications to Protect Life and Limb includes a requirement that the Attorney General report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees each year the number of voluntarily disclosures it has sought and whether investigations related to the disclosures were closed without criminal charges being filed.
Section 213: Authority for Delaying Notice of the Execution of a Warrant puts rather loose limits on the length of delays: giving notice within a period not to exceed 180 days, which may be extended for additional 90-day periods for "good cause shown."
Section 215: Although the subject of the investigation need not be a suspect, the amended bill:
- Includes a relevance standard, requiring "that the information likely to be obtained from the tangible things is reasonably expected to be (A) foreign intelligence information not concerning a United States person, or (B) relevant to an ongoing investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities."
- Allows persons receiving a FISA subpoena for tangible things to tell their attorneys, who may file a petition challenging the legality of the subpoena. However, neither the plaintiff nor the attorney is allowed to address the panel considering the challenge.
- Requires the FBI Director to approve FBI requests for library or bookstore records, but not firearms or medical records.
Section 110 (new), Prohibition on Planning Terrorist Attacks on Mass Transportation, creates a new crime to surveil, photograph, videotape, diagram, or otherwise collect information with the intent to plan or assist in planning certain acts.
Selected amendments passed
- #2, offered by Rep. Jeff Flake, requires the Director of the FBI to personally approve Section 215 requests for library or bookstore records
- #3, offered by Rep. Darrell Issa, would increase oversight for the use of roving wiretaps (Section 206)
- #5, offered by Rep. Jeff Flake, amends Section 505 by specifying that "the recipient of a national security letter may consult with an attorney, and may also challenge national security letters in court." They may also challenge the "gag order" accompanying the request.
- #7, offered by Rep. William Delahunt, amends the federal civil forfeiture statute by replacing the broadly defined “domestic terrorism” with the more specific “federal crime of terrorism.” This change amends Patriot Act Section 806, Assets of Terrorist Organizations, and not Section 802, Definition of Domestic Terrorism, which defines the new crime so broadly that many people fear its application to activists engaging in activities that are protected by the First Amendment.
- #9, offered by Rep. Howard Berman, requires "a report to Congress on the development and use of data-mining technology by departments and agencies of the Federal government." These technologies, such as the MATRIX, pool data of all sorts about all of us and select people as suspects based on trends. President Bush has stated that he will veto a bill if it contains such an amendment.
- #13, offered by John R. Carter (R-TX), would add 41 crimes to the 20 terrorism-related offenses currently eligible for capital punishment. It would also make it easier for prosecutors to seek a capital conviction in cases where the defendant did not have the intent to kill. In addition, the provisions would allow a trial with fewer than 12 jurors, even without the agreement of the defense team, and it would give prosecutors the chance to retry cases if a jury is deadlocked over a death sentence. The amendment was passed in the House by a voice vote, without debate.
- #14, offered by Rep. Melissa Hart, increases penalties for activities considered "terrorism financing" and "provides for additional terrorism-financing offenses (such as the use of Hawalas) as predicate offenses to money laundering statutes."
- #19, offered by Rep. Ron Paul, expresses "the sense of Congress
that no American citizen should be the target of a federal investigation
solely as a result of that person's political activities."
It does not, however, offer the same consideration to noncitizens.